This book is the first work dedicated to the Bees Algorithm. Following a gentle introduction to the main ideas underpinning the algorithm, the book presents recent results and developments relating to the algorithm and its application to optimisation problems in production and manufacturing. With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, production and manufacturing processes and systems have become more complex. To obtain the best performance from them requires efficient and effective optimisation techniques that do not depend on the availability of process or system models. Such models are usually either not obtainable or mathematically intractable due to the high degrees of nonlinearities and uncertainties in the processes and systems to be represented. The Bees Algorithm is a powerful swarm-based intelligent optimisation metaheuristic inspired by the foraging behaviour of honeybees. The algorithm is conceptually elegant and extremely easy to apply. All it needs to solve an optimisation problem is a means to evaluate the quality of potential solutions. This book demonstrates the simplicity, effectiveness and versatility of the algorithm and encourages its further adoption by engineers and researchers across the world to realise smart and sustainable manufacturing and production in the age of Industry 4.0 and beyond.

This book is the first work dedicated to the Bees Algorithm. Following a gentle introduction to the main ideas underpinning the algorithm, the book presents recent results and developments relating to the algorithm and its application to optimisation problems in production and manufacturing. With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, production and manufacturing processes and systems have become more complex. To obtain the best performance from them requires efficient and effective optimisation techniques that do not depend on the availability of process or system models. Such models are usually either not obtainable or mathematically intractable due to the high degrees of nonlinearities and uncertainties in the processes and systems to be represented. The Bees Algorithm is a powerful swarm-based intelligent optimisation metaheuristic inspired by the foraging behaviour of honeybees. The algorithm is conceptually elegant and extremely easy to apply. All it needs to solve an optimisation problem is a means to evaluate the quality of potential solutions. This book demonstrates the simplicity, effectiveness and versatility of the algorithm and encourages its further adoption by engineers and researchers across the world to realise smart and sustainable manufacturing and production in the age of Industry 4.0 and beyond. .

This book presents new and advanced results and developments related to the Bees Algorithm, along with its application to a wide range of engineering problems. Modern complex processes and systems are difficult to optimise using conventional mathematical tools as they require models that often cannot be obtained with accuracy or certainty. Optimising such systems demands efficient, model-free optimisation tools. The Bees Algorithm, a swarm-based technique inspired by the foraging behaviour of honeybees, is an ideal tool for tackling challenging optimisation problems. The algorithm is conceptually elegant and extremely easy to apply. All it needs to solve an optimisation problem is a means to evaluate the quality of potential solutions. While the covered applications belong to diverse engineering fields, this book’s focus is on advanced manufacturing and industrial engineering. The book comprises two parts. The first part explores different enhancements made to the original Bees Algorithm to improve its performance. The second part delves into the algorithm's applications in design, manufacturing, production, ergonomics, logistics, transportation, and electrical and electronic engineering. By showcasing the variety of optimisation tasks successfully handled using the Bees Algorithm, the book aims to inspire and motivate engineers and researchers worldwide to adopt the algorithm as a powerful and versatile tool for conquering complex engineering problems in the Industry 4.0 era and beyond.

Presenting the concept and design and implementation of configurable intelligent optimization algorithms in manufacturing systems, this book provides a new configuration method to optimize manufacturing processes. It provides a comprehensive elaboration of basic intelligent optimization algorithms, and demonstrates how their improvement, hybridization and parallelization can be applied to manufacturing. Furthermore, various applications of these intelligent optimization algorithms are exemplified in detail, chapter by chapter. The intelligent optimization algorithm is not just a single algorithm; instead it is a general advanced optimization mechanism which is highly scalable with robustness and randomness. Therefore, this book demonstrates the flexibility of these algorithms, as well as their robustness and reusability in order to solve mass complicated problems in manufacturing. Since the genetic algorithm was presented decades ago, a large number of intelligent optimization algorithms and their improvements have been developed. However, little work has been done to extend their applications and verify their competence in solving complicated problems in manufacturing. This book will provide an invaluable resource to students, researchers, consultants and industry professionals interested in engineering optimization. It will also be particularly useful to three groups of readers: algorithm beginners, optimization engineers and senior algorithm designers. It offers a detailed description of intelligent optimization algorithms to algorithm beginners; recommends new configurable design methods for optimization engineers, and provides future trends and challenges of the new configuration mechanism to senior algorithm designers.

This book presents the proceedings of SympoSIMM 2020, the 3rd edition of the Symposium on Intelligent Manufacturing and Mechatronics. Focusing on “Strengthening Innovations Towards Industry 4.0”, the book presents studies on the details of Industry 4.0’s current trends. Divided into five parts covering various areas of manufacturing engineering and mechatronics stream, namely, artificial intelligence, instrumentation and controls, intelligent manufacturing, modelling and simulation, and robotics, the book will be a valuable resource for readers wishing to embrace the new era of Industry 4.0.

For decades, optimization methods such as Fuzzy Logic, Artificial Neural Networks, Firefly, Simulated annealing, and Tabu search, have been capable of handling and tackling a wide range of real-world application problems in society and nature. Analysts have turned to these problem-solving techniques in the event during natural disasters and chaotic systems research. The Handbook of Research on Artificial Intelligence Techniques and Algorithms highlights the cutting edge developments in this promising research area. This premier reference work applies Meta-heuristics Optimization (MO) Techniques to real world problems in a variety of fields including business, logistics, computer science, engineering, and government. This work is particularly relevant to researchers, scientists, decision-makers, managers, and practitioners.